Monday, 15 December 2014

Turkey rolls out red carpet for Indian power producers

Mumbai: With Turkey aiming for mega 125-GW installed power capacity by 2023, private firms like Tata Power, Lanco, GMR and Essar as also state-run NTPC are mulling investments in that nation, according to Turkish investment support and promotion agency.

As of 2012, the installed capacity in Turkey, which is a European Union member despite being an Asian country, was 57,058 MW. It plans to increase the capacity to 1,25,000 MW by 2023 and is expecting domestic companies to contribute significantly in achieving the target.

"There is immense scope in the power sector in Turkey, which is emerging as an investment hub especially in the power sector. Countries like Russia, Austria, China, France, Sweden, Germany and even the US are investing heavily in Turkey now.

"India, which has so far no presence there is now seriously considering Turkey as an investment destination," Sanjeev Kathpalia, senior advisor with the Investment Support and Promotion Agency, under the office of the Turkish prime minister, told PTI in an interaction here.

He said so far India has no presence in his country, but now many private and public sector firms are keenly looking at investing in Turkey.

"Companies like Tata Power, Lanco, GMR, Essar, Reliance in the private sector and NTPC in the public sector are keen to invest. We are in talks with these companies and we may see some positive activity in this direction in the next six months," Kathpalia said.

An investment of nearly USD 100 billion is expected to come in the sector in the next 10 years and India is expected to contribute nearly 15 per cent of the total investment.

He further said apart from the scope Turkey offers in the power generation sector, its geographical position makes it a transit country in the field of energy.

"Turkey's geographical position to the regions of Europe, the Balkans, the Aegean, the Black Sea, the Caucus-Khazar Basin, Central Asia, the East Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East makes it an energy corridor for transporting power resources from the Middle East and the Khazar regions to Europe," Kathpalia said.

He further said his country's strategic position is also critical for export and import of electricity through Turkey enabled energy integration with Europe.

"Indian companies can sell power generated in Turkey on merchant tariff basis outside. Besides, Turkey also offers various incentives to developers who use locally sourced equipment," Kathpalia added.